Chapter 222: Allen and the Dwarves

"What? There are actually Dwarves attacking your fleet on the Running River? Allen, I am very glad to see you safe and sound at this moment."

Upon hearing Allen recount the process of being ambushed, the smile on Thorin's face vanished rapidly, and the astonishment in his eyes could not be concealed at all.

Subsequently, after a moment of thought, the King of Durin continued to add with an extremely serious expression: "Allen, my friend, you can completely dispose of your captives according to your own will; there is no need to consider my feelings. In fact, I curse those Dwarves who have fallen into darkness; may their souls wander in the Wilderness forever, never to return to the Halls of Mandos."

In the faith of the Dwarves, they have always loved their creator, the Valar Aule, and firmly believe that after the death of the flesh, their souls will be gathered by "Mahal"—that is, Aule himself—into a room in the Halls of Mandos. And at the end of the world, they will be canonized by Eru Iluvatar to continue serving their creator.

This is a doctrine passed down by word of mouth among the Dwarf race, which shows just how intense Thorin's hatred for those fallen Dwarves is; perhaps this hatred is mainly directed at that Sauron who reigns as king in Mordor.

"Alright, then I will leave them in my workshop. I hope that one day they can shake off the control of darkness and return to our camp."

Hearing Thorin's promise, Allen felt relieved about this matter. If Thorin needed to, he could completely go to Heidelberg to take those Dwarves away; Allen actually did not mind, but it would be even better if they could stay.

In this region of Middle-earth, no faction would complain about having too many blacksmiths, especially Allen, who is preparing to smelt and modify armor on a large scale.

However, Allen did not come to the Lonely Mountain solely for these dozens of Dwarves.

"Thorin, do you know how to find those who believe in darkness among your kin? You must know that the current Rhovanion has a very complex situation, and I cannot refuse others' entry without cause. The spies and scouts of the Great Enemy are lurking around us; this is truly a dangerous matter."

Hearing Allen's question, Thorin gave a bitter smile. How would he know how to distinguish them?

In fact, he had only heard that there were those among the Dwarf race living in the Far East who served the Dark Lord; he had never seen one with his own eyes.

"I also do not know how to distinguish them. Perhaps being more careful and more cautious is the best method we can choose at present."

Thorin's situation was not much different from Allen's. The King of Durin could not completely refuse other Dwarves from entering the Lonely Mountain; this not only concerned the friendship between Dwarves but also the development of the Lonely Mountain. Thorin needed a large amount of manpower to realize his ambitions; he could not give up eating for fear of choking.

Balin, who had been listening on the side, stroked his snow-white beard. After pondering for a long while, he suggested in a slow tone: "Perhaps we can distinguish them by observing their daily behavior, but this requires a great deal of energy, and I cannot guarantee that this method is effective."

After hearing Balin's words, Allen shook his head silently. Perhaps this method was indeed effective, but there were at least several hundred Dwarves active in the various towns of Rhovanion every day; could he really send people to monitor every single one of them?

Not to mention how much energy this method would require to complete, the mere fact that it easily caused misunderstandings was not the way Allen wanted to go.

Perhaps he could only trouble those "Animal Friends" to pay more attention to the movements of the Dwarves. As long as no trouble or information leaks occurred, and as long as Allen and his subordinates were more careful and cautious, they should be able to barely cope.

After discussing this matter, Allen brought out his renovation plan for Long Lake Town, letting Thorin help him see if there was a possibility of realization—that idea of using water power to open up a river channel.

Thorin was more proficient in weapon forging, but he was not so skilled in construction. However, this did not matter; there were plenty of Durin's Dwarves who were good at this work. Soon, Allen's plan was passed down, and a large number of Dwarf master builders began to conceive how to better realize this idea.

For them, wanting to complete this idea was not a difficult task, but to ensure efficiency while also being sufficiently sturdy and durable, they needed to "discuss" it for a while.

Allen bid farewell to the busy Thorin and wandered around the Lonely Mountain with Balin. Anyway, it would take a little time for Allen's plan to be realized, so he took this opportunity to visit his good friends.

In fact, ever since reclaiming the Lonely Mountain, the Dwarves who had participated in the expedition with Thorin had all received their share of wealth and settled in the Lonely Mountain. Some still served under Thorin; for example, Balin's brother, the tall Dwalin, held the position of an officer.

And some, after obtaining wealth, lived a carefree life; for example, Bombur, who was originally the fattest of them all. When Allen saw his little friend again, he rarely walked on his own anymore.

However, to welcome Allen, he walked from his dining room to the gate in person. Although he was panting with exhaustion, his face was still full of smiles.

Soon, most of the little friends who had leisure time came to Bombur's place. They gathered together and happily played the cheerful songs of the Dwarves. The beautiful music made Allen feel as if he had returned to that night at Bag End; it was so far from the Lonely Mountain, yet it seemed so close.

Subsequently, the group of Dwarves unceremoniously had lunch and dinner at Bombur's house. In the evening, Thorin, Dwalin, Fili, and Dain, who had finished their official duties, joined the banquet, and Kili, who lived outside the Lonely Mountain, also returned. It could be said that except for Bilbo and Gandalf, all the other little friends who had participated in the expedition were gathered together.

They celebrated from noon until late at night, singing beautiful songs or telling each other about their experiences since they parted.

Especially Allen and Fili, who spoke vividly about their encounters in Gondor. When they spoke of the fighting, everyone became nervous, and when they talked about the joy after victory, everyone was happy along with them.

By the end of the banquet, all the Dwarves hoped to have a chance to gather with Bilbo and Gandalf, and Allen, who was already slightly tipsy, took on this task.

"Rest assured, next summer I will hold a huge celebration. I will prepare delicious food and countless good wines, and then invite all our friends to attend this banquet. At that time, we will definitely have a chance to reunite, and then we will continue to drink to our hearts' content."

What Allen did not explicitly say was that it would probably be in the summer of next year, the Month of Prosperity, that he would marry Yamila. This was naturally a grand and happy event for the Kingdom of Rhovanion, and at that time, Allen would naturally send out countless messengers to invite his friends to attend his wedding.

This naturally included Bilbo and Gandalf. If he were not busy with official business, Allen even wanted to go and invite the Hobbit in person. As for the elusive Gandalf, perhaps only Allen could find him accurately.

Now, there was naturally no need to say it explicitly. As for the drunken Dwarves, they only heard about the banquet with fine food and wine and did not think too much about it. Instead, they raised their glasses one after another to drink heavily with Allen again. This drinking lasted until the moment the sunlight shone in again, and everyone fell into a deep sleep.

It must be said that Allen's drinking capacity was much better than before. He drank directly to the end with Dain; fourteen Dwarves plus one Human drank up three months' worth of Bombur's wine storage in one day.

When everyone woke up from their beautiful dreams, it was already the afternoon of the next day. Everyone parted reluctantly again and agreed to meet in Fislate next summer.

Before leaving Bombur, Allen still hoped that he would pay attention to his health, because obesity would greatly affect the lifespan of a Dwarf.

Hearing this, Bombur laughed heartily and instead tried to persuade Allen.

"Back when I was in the Blue Mountains, I didn't have any remarkable achievements, nor did I have much wealth to enjoy life, but I was still fond of food and wine. Now, I am a hero who reclaimed the Lonely Mountain and possess treasures that I can't even put down; can't I enjoy the life I want?"

As he spoke, Bombur gulped down a large mouthful of Honey Mead produced in Rhovanion, the sweet taste making the Dwarf squint his eyes.

"Allen, you live too tiredly. When the team stops, you are either thinking or patrolling everywhere, or you are helping others better adapt to the Wilderness. You are a reassuring partner, a loyal friend, and at the same time, I believe you are a competent king whose future achievements will definitely be great. But at this moment, it should be my turn to give you some advice: you must also pay more attention to your own health; a bowstring that is always taut will break at any time."

Bombur's heartfelt words left Allen not knowing what else to say. Finally, before leaving, he thanked Bombur for his advice and then headed to the hall of Thror to find Thorin; no matter what, he still had many things left unfinished.

At this time, under the discussion of many Dwarf masters, Allen's plan had become an executable design drawing, and they had carefully marked the materials needed for this project on it.

Allen, who had once specifically studied related knowledge, could naturally understand this drawing. Everything else was fine, but the need for some Mithril made Allen feel a bit strange.

The Dwarf master builders explained to Allen quite readily that in their design, several gears would rotate continuously under the impact of the water flow, and these core parts needed to be mixed with Mithril; otherwise, they would need to frequently replace parts to maintain the operation of the entire system.

Fortunately, Allen happened to have some Mithril left in his possession. The quantity was not enough to forge a whole suit of armor or a weapon, but it was more than enough to complete this project. He immediately stated that he would send people to have the required materials prepared in Long Lake Town, and this project would officially begin in half a month.

Having finished everything, Allen was attracted by a map that Thorin took out. At a glance, he could see that it was the terrain of the Grey Mountains and Mount Gundabad.

This map was drawn only after Thorin had sent out countless Dwarf scouts and spent nearly a year. He was making corresponding preparations for reclaiming Mount Gundabad and even the Grey Mountains.

The Dwarves' way of doing things was always honest and direct. Thorin informed Allen without any hesitation that he wanted to complete the plan to recover Mount Gundabad within ten years, and this required Allen's help.

Looking at the detailed map marked there, Allen fell into deep thought. It was not that he wanted to go back on his word, but that he was sorting out his thoughts so he could explain his plan to Thorin; he had also considered this matter a long time ago.

"Thorin, ever since the Battle of the Lonely Mountain, the Orcish active in the Grey Mountains have been severely damaged. For us now, wanting to drive them away is not a difficult task, but if we want to take back this area for a long time, we need a period of preparation."

Subsequently, Allen told Thorin that he planned to arrange for some of his herdsmen to move to the vicinity of Langwell and the Greyflood in two or three years to live. That was a land suitable for animal husbandry, very suitable for breeding more horses, and of course, it could also be used to train larger-scale Cavalry.

And after the herdsmen settled down there, Humans and Dwarves could cooperate to better occupy that region.

Thorin was not saying that he would launch a war against the Orcish immediately; he was just confirming this matter with his ally. He was satisfied with the attitude Allen showed; at the very least, Allen had already thought of some plans.

"That's right, Allen. Although the power we possess now is quite strong and those Orcish are not worth mentioning in front of us, the Holy Land is indeed too far from Erebor. Once a battle occurs, it is difficult to provide support. Therefore, while you are moving the herdsmen, I plan to let Balin and Dwalin take a portion of our kin to the Grey Mountains to carefully explore whether there are still traces of the Cold Dragon there. If possible, we will prioritize occupying that place, and then after accumulating strength, we will take back the Holy Land in one fell swoop."

Saying this, Thorin waved his clenched fist full of confidence.

In Allen's view, Thorin's plan was not bad. The southern part of the Grey Mountains also had a kingdom abandoned by the Durin's Dwarves. If the Dwarves could further occupy that place, they could watch over and help the herdsmen Allen moved there, further suppressing the living space of the Orcish.

As for the Cold Dragon that once ravaged the Grey Mountains, according to the memories in Allen's mind, after the ancestors of the people of Rohan killed Scatha, there had been no more Cold Dragon invading the Grey Mountains; it had been stable for a long time.

And Gandalf, who had traveled there before the expedition, had not found the existence of the Cold Dragon either. These huge, greedy, and cunning creatures should all be inhabiting the bitterly cold Forodwaith region.

It was just that Allen could not figure out why these Cold Dragon with powerful strength would make such a choice, but this did not affect the plan he and Thorin had made at this moment.

The two of them quickly finalized the approximate date for the plan's execution, and after that, Allen and his Queen also embarked on the journey back to Long Lake Town.